It is generally desirable to maintain the quality, for as long as possible, of freshly packed horticultural produce, such as fruit and vegetables, to ensure consumer acceptability. Quality deterioration of horticultural produce comes about through water loss for the tissue. Methods of inhibiting the deteriorative enzyme reactions, and the growth of yeasts, moulds and bacteria involve the reduction of the produce temperature to between 1° to 12° C., and the creation of low O2 or high CO2 modified atmospheres around the produce. Water in fruits and vegetables can be lost readily under low relative humidity conditions with the consequence of skin wrinkling, wilting and reduction in crispness. The rate of water loss from produce can be restricted by storing the produce in closed package systems consisting of walls with low moisture permeability.
A previous solution to the problem of inhibiting deterioration of produce involved packing the produce in polystyrene creates with ice. Polystyrene has good insulative properties and the container made therefrom do not require erection for use. However, the containers are rigid formed products which require considerable room for transportation and storage prior to use. Further, polystyrene is not deemed environmentally friendly and the end user may be forced to pay disposal costs. Finally, the polystyrene product structure can be compromised by impact during use which may reduce its ability to inhibit spoilage of the produce stored therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,293 provides an alternative solution to this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,293 provides of a polymer film as a liner on the inner surface of a corrugated board box. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,293 provides:                construction and use of lined or coated corrugated paperboard package systems (e.g. boxes, cartons) for prolonging tale storage life of fresh fruits and vegetables under modified atmospheres (MA) in the headspaces of the closed package systems. In particular, the invention is concerned with the placement of various types of gas-permeable linings or coatings on the inside surface of corrugated paperboard, and with the design of die-cut patterns of the lined or coated corrugated paper boards to render the folded, sealed MA packages airtight (no air holes) and stackable. (Column 2, Lines 18 to 28)        
U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,293 may go some way to providing an improved container for reducing deterioration of horticultural produce. However, container needs to be constructed from the blank by the farmer on site which includes the step of sealing the columns (35) with a glue (28). The farmer needs to have specialised glue and associated equipment to perform this task. In short, construction of the container from the blank by the farmer may be time consuming, labour intensive and expensive. Further, the glued columns (35) and associated vents (38) shown in FIG. 6, for example, may fail and leak fluid, such as ice water, from the container during use. It is generally desirable to inhibit leakage of fluids from the container during use.
As an alternative to using ice to reduce spoilage. Breatheway™ introduced a bagged product that reduced the respiration rate of produce contained therein. The Breatheway™ bagged product may have an advantage in that ice is not needed to inhibit spoilage between field and market. However, there is an additional cost involved in using the bags and additional labor involved in packing individual bags with produce.
It is generally desirable to overcome or ameliorate one or more of the above mentioned difficulties or at least provide a useful alternative.